This song's been floating around for awhile now, but never in quite such a blogger-friendly form. It's "Mary the Fairy" from Key Wilde & Mr. Clarke, and Little Monster Records has offered it for sale, either by itself or in some other combinations. They also note that it'll be part of Little Monster's Magical Creatures, Musical Pets compilation, available "next year." Of course, the compilation has been promised for so long that I wonder if it isn't as mythical as the creatures supposedly sung about within. (I kid because I love.)
A Very Brooklyn Hanukkah
No sooner than I suggest that there wasn't much in the way of new Hanukkah music than I'm reminded of a couple YouTube videos and another song is released. Both releases, as it happens, come from Brooklyn and from folks who are, I'm pretty sure, not Jewish. But I think you'll like 'em regardless of whether you (or they) are lighting the menorah the week.
First up is Dan Zanes, who recorded a new track, "Ner Li" with collaborators Rob Friedman and Sonia De Los Santos. It's a Hanukkah song that Wikipedia reports as being popular in Israel. Zanes' version is characteristically lovely. Download it here.
Second up is Lloyd Miller from the Deedle Deedle Dees. He offers up another couple traditional tunes on his YouTube channel. Simple, but fun.
Lloyd Miller - "Oh Hanukkah!" [YouTube]
Lloyd's other video after the jump...
Best Kids Music 2010: Top 20 Songs
Moving on in my look back at 2010's best in music for kids and families, it's time for individual songs. This is the third year (at least) that I've put together a list featuring my 20 favorite songs. It's really hard, maybe even harder than putting together a list of the best albums -- lots of really good songs get left off the list, and a number of really good albums find themselves unrepresented here. But all of them have withstood my own test of repeated spins with no diminishment in enjoyment. This alphabetical list might not necessarily make the best mix CD, but these are definitely great songs. So without further ado...
Tommy Got In Trouble - The Bazillions (Rock-n-Roll Recess) [Watch here]
Sing With Me - Haley Bonar (Sing With Me)
I'm A Monkey - Candy Band (High Five) [Watch them perform it live here]
The Princess Who Saved Herself - Jonathan Coulton (Many Hands: Family Songs for Haiti) [Listen here]
Willy Won't - Debbie And Friends (More Story Songs & Sing Alongs) [Watch here]
Blue Bear - Lucky Diaz (Luckiest Adventure) [Watch here]
Clap Your Hands - Gwendolyn And The Good Time Gang (Clap Your Hands) [Listen (to at least a healthy portion) here]
Hail! Hail! The Gang's All Here! - Dean Jones featuring the Felice Brothers (Rock Paper Scissors)
The Ballad of Johnny Box - Billy Kelly (Is This Some Kind of Joke?)
Shoo Lie Loo - Elizabeth Mitchell (Sunny Day)
F & G - The Pop Ups (Outside Voices) [Listen here]
All About Bob - Ralph's World (All Around Ralph's World) [Download for free here]
Moon Boots - Recess Monkey (The Final Funktier) [Watch here]
Mama Papa Love - Renee & Jeremy (C'mon) [Listen here]
Trick or Treat -Justin Roberts (Jungle Gym) [Listen here]
Ride the Butterflies -Secret Agent 23 Skidoo (Underground Playground)
Little Red Wagon - Sugar Free Allstars (Funky Fresh And Sugar Free) [Listen here]
Rattling Can - Key Wilde & Mr. Clarke (Rise And Shine) [Listen here]
Hula Hoop To Da Loop - Keller Williams (Kids) [Watch here]
I Won't Grow Up - Dan Zanes & Friends (76 Trombones)
Christmas 2010 Family Music Singles
Here are a few nuggets to put in your virtual Advent calendar as you await Christmas. (There's even a Hanukkah ditty for those of you celebrating this week.)
And I'm gonna update this post as more stuff floats in like a happy little snowflake.
Renee and Jeremy have offered up their sweet take on "Little Drummer Boy" on iTunes (you can download it here). No drums, but it's pretty much a perfect fit for R&J's hypnotic approach. And check out the awesome album art there. There needs to be a Christmas card, pronto.
Lucky Diaz increases his recorded family music output by releasing "Under the Tree," a slightly wistful but very tuneful track. Download it here; proceeds benefit the Pablove Foundation, which provides support to kids with cancer.
Renee and Jeremy have offered up their sweet take on "Little Drummer Boy" on iTunes (you can download it here). No drums, but it's pretty much a perfect fit for R&J's hypnotic approach. And check out the awesome album art there. There needs to be a Christmas card, pronto.
Lucky Diaz increases his recorded family music output by releasing "Under the Tree," a slightly wistful but very tuneful track. Download it here; proceeds benefit the Pablove Foundation, which provides support to kids with cancer.53rd Grammy Nominations: Children's Music (and Spoken Word)
Could we draw some sort of inference from the inability of the GRAMMYs to get their complete list of nominations up until a good 20-25 minutes after they were promised? Some broad reluctance to get into the digital age? Probably not. But still annoying for the multitudes of folks who wanted to see the winners at 11 PM East Coast time as promised.
Anyway, I'm over that now. The nominees, with some thoughts, after the jump. The main GRAMMY awards are Sunday night, Feb. 13 -- most of the awards (including this category) are typically awarded that afternoon.
Best Kids Music 2010: Top 10 Debuts
OK, the next part of my review of the best kids music of 2010 focuses on debuts. I can't even say that I'd thought about this seriously until Warren Truitt put together his list of top debuts of 2008. But I don't think he did it last year, so since I abhor vacuuming (or a vacuum), I'm going to appropriate the idea. While there are a couple of exceptions, for the most part we didn't know about these bands twelve months ago. And there was a fair amount of competition for these slots -- I could've expanded this to a Top 15 list fairly easily. In addition to quality of music, I'm also thinking about intangibles -- does their entire approach suggest that they could have a large fanbase and a Top 10 overall album 5 years from now as well? (Some of them do right now.) It wouldn't surprise me if that were the case with any of these artists.
I should note that by using the word "debut," I'm assuming that this isn't the last family music album from each of these artists. Albums from Haley Bonar, Keller Williams, and Essie Jain, for example, would've been considered for this list, but I made the assumption that their family albums would be their sole foray into the genre. I would be happy to be proven wrong.
Anyway, here's ten debut albums (listed alphabetically by artist) worth celebrating.
Rani Arbo & daisy mayhem - Ranky Tanky: Why Rani Arbo and not Keller Williams? Do I have any inside information that would suggest that this fine album, a worthy companion to many of Dan Zanes' albums drawing deep from many musical wells, is just the beginning? No, not really. So consider this a hopeful wink and nudge to the fine quartet from New England. We'd like more of this, please.
Rani Arbo & daisy mayhem - Ranky Tanky: Why Rani Arbo and not Keller Williams? Do I have any inside information that would suggest that this fine album, a worthy companion to many of Dan Zanes' albums drawing deep from many musical wells, is just the beginning? No, not really. So consider this a hopeful wink and nudge to the fine quartet from New England. We'd like more of this, please.
